|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Kamikaze : (Montréal, Canada) Small bulldozer used to clear snow off sidewalks. Called Kamikaze because the vehicle barrels down the sidewalk at speeds nearing 60mph, seemingly on a mission to hit anything not fast enough to get out of its way.I was talking to someone today and she mentioned that she the sidewalks were not being cleared-off as well as last winter and that she hadn’t seen a single kamikaze on her street since December. I knew exactly what she meant since this is a common term in Montréal, however, I’m well aware that anywhere else in the world, kamikazes were Asian suicide pilots. Does anybody have examples of that type. Words that mean one thing to the world in general but have a completely unrelated, and un-guessable meaning in your region/area? Another example in Montréal is Green Onion. Those are the guys that hand out parking tickets. They got the name “Green Onion” because they had a green uniform and, well, they stink. At least you think it stinks when you get a ticket  . The uniforms changed a few years ago (the government hoped it would stop the name-calling by making them blue) but they are still called Green Onions.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Good thought-provoker, bel! Meanwhile, what is "green onion" in French?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Les hosties de calices de tabernacles. I will NOT translate that for you as you shall turn beet red in embarrassement. In comic books it would appear something like this !!*&%$$!#!@))! with little skulls appearing hear and there.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
what is "green onion" in French L'oignon vert, literally. I don't know if there is a separate term for what we mean by green onion. Shallot is échalote.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508 |
Les hosties de calices de tabernacles.
Sounds more ecclesiastical than blue, belM. Is there a colloquial, blush-producing translation? Just asking...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
A bit of trivia. Kamikaze origilly referred to a typhoon
that destroy Mongol fleet trying to invade Japan in 1281.
A divine wind.
It seems that profanity loses much in translation.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Jokes and swearing lose a lot in translation. But I agree, none of the words in and of themselves is blue. Is it New World French or Old World?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I recall belM telling me (us?) once that the above is a very naughty word in Canadian French. I forget why, though. And Jackie, thanks for the "real" translation! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Oooo, verrry bad in French Québec. You're right though, swearing does not translate well into other languages. Essentially, these are religious things, the host, the tabernacle and the chalice, but they are used as angry swear words. You have the same thing in English with Jesus Christ. It is a highly regligious name but, used in anger and said with vehemence it is a swear word. I was teasing though about what we French call the green onions. In French we don't really have a nic-name for them but the usual reaction to seeing them near your car IS swearing
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
In reply to:
Les hosties de calices de tabernacles.
At the end of her album "Les Lettres Rouges" recorded live in Paris, Lynda Lemay treats the audience to a humorous "petit cours de Québécois" - a lesson in Québec slang and dialect words, and she points out that if you want to be more polite, you distort the taboo words; thus "tabarnic", "ostifie", "caliboire", &c. Plenty more possible translations for your "green onions": colons, habitants, twits, raisins, and others that I won't risk typing because I will undoubtedly mangle the spelling!
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
864
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
